I have a confession to make.
I turned thirty this past November, but in all of my years, I had never purchased my own computer. Part of this is a byproduct of the field my father works in (yes, he’s in the tech industry) and part of it is a byproduct of not having a job that would allow me to afford to purchase my own PC. An e-reader or a bicycle with my tax refund money, yes, but a computer? Not a chance. The closest I ever got prior to this was last year, while I was still working at the store and had quietly been putting away money here and there because I needed to replace my slowly dying laptop (it was nearly six years old at the time and had been through quite a bit–replaced screen, upgraded RAM, and I was looking down the barrel of trying to find a way to replace the fan). I mentioned off-handedly to my father that I was looking at netbooks because at the time I was really starting to get out of the gaming scene and all I really needed was a machine that would let me surf the internet and write. He looked at me and said “Well, do you want one for your birthday?” I just stared at him.
Then I asked in this little, small voice, “Can I get a purple one?”
He laughed.
That was how I ended up with my cute little purple HP Mini, which I’ve been using reliably as my primary PC since November of 2011. It came on Black Friday, a very happy surprise for me after a very, very long day at the store. The extra money I’d saved went to student loans and Christmas gifts for the family.
I started to realize that maybe I needed a new desktop (my first since 2000) in May 2012, when I started to play around with doing my own print book layout with Adobe InDesign and doing more intensive graphics work for my book covers. My Mini, unfortunately, has two major failings–processing power and screen real estate. I feel the pain of the latter more than I feel the pain of the former, but the lack of processing power was enough to convince me that instead of just getting a monitor, I should think about getting a full PC. Unfortunately, desk space for me is at a premium and I don’t like the idea of putting my tower on a carpeted floor–especially when I have cats cavorting around in my bedroom at all times of day and don’t get to vacuum as often as I should. That meant that I needed an all-in-one, which would save me desk space and give me the desktop screen size and computing power I need.
Why didn’t I get a second laptop? Well, the answer to that is pretty simple–I don’t need another laptop. My Mini is perfect when it comes to being out and about–it’s small enough (even in its case) to slip into my purse with my notebook, wallet, e-reader, a hardcover and a few magazines–even with its charger and mouse (and my iPhone with its charging cord and the cord for my e-reader–believe me, I did this more than once while flying to and from Texas and then to and from Pennsylvania in November and December!) and doesn’t take up much space on desks, tray tables, or cafe tables at my local Starbucks or Panera Bread. It’s ideal for a lot, save the failings I mentioned above.
In between working on the next chapter of Ashes to Ashes and starting the edits on Between Fang and Claw, I started browsing for a new all-in-one computer and discovered that HP had a couple of quick-ship options that would meet my needs. After a consultation with a few friends who are slightly more tech-savvy than I (I’m dangerous when it comes to making computers do tricks, but when it comes to the actual composition of them, I start to get a little shaky), I purchased a new Pavillion all-in-one.
My first computer that I bought by myself with no help from my family.
Kind of exciting, don’t you think?
